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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Rap Music Mogul Disrespects Muslims with Magazine |
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| Red |
| 12/23/02 at 23:06:58 |
| Rap Music Mogul Disrespects Muslims with Magazine Cover Islam Online http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2002-12/23/article12.shtml By Ali Asadullah WASHINGTON, December 23 (IslamOnline) - Muslims have been outraged by the cover photo of the popular U.S. urban culture magazine One World, which features female rapper Lil Kim wearing the head covering of a burqa and a revealing lingerie set. Rap music mogul, Russell Simmons - famous for having launched the careers of acts such as Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J - proudly places his name on the front cover each issue of his urban culture magazine One World, explicitly endorsing the content that appears both on the cover of each magazine as well as that contained therein. Therefore, Simmons takes full responsibility for the photo that graces the front cover of the December/January issue of One World. For those sensitive to issues of female modesty, viewing the cover photo at the publication’s website is probably not advisable. It features female rap artist Lil Kim posed seductively. Her head, with the exception of her eyes, is draped with the top portion of what can only be described as a burqa, the now infamous full-body covering worn by many Afghan women. Unfortunately, Lil Kim’s burqa does not obscure her body in the least. The rest of the garment is tossed over her left shoulder, leaving her body fully exposed with the exception of a skimpy lingerie set. Lil Kim, who has become something of a sensation in the U.S. entertainment world for her provocative sense of style, has some choice words for the country that inspired the attire for her cover shot. “F**K Afghanistan,” says Kim within the magazine’s pages. Whatever Simmons and the One World staff intended with this photo is irrelevant, because for Muslims, both the 7 million in the United States and the 1.2 billion spread across the rest of the world, it is a clear and unambiguous jab at the religion of Islam. It is well known that practicing Muslim women adhere to a strict code of modesty; and regardless of what non-Muslims might think of those standards, they remain valid personal choices by Muslim women wishing to be observant. Even in Afghanistan, many Muslim women don the burqa as a matter of faith and conscious choice. For Simmons, this is not the first time he has stood by while anti-Islamic invectives are allowed into the public sphere via projects related to Simmons. In 1999, Def Jam - the record label founded by Simmons with which he continues to have influence - released the CD Chyna Doll by female rapper Foxy Brown. That CD features an explicitly sexual track targeted at Islam, entitled “Hot Spot” in which Brown says, Let’s get it on / Emcees wanna eat me / But it’s Ramadan. Islam has recently received a great deal of negative press in the United States due to the present state of current affairs. While some argue that some of the unflattering sentiments that have been expressed are rooted in valid concern for American safety and security, much of what has been promulgated in the media, as has been demonstrated by One World, has been reactionary and vituperative. |
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